I used the Happy Herbivore basic pancake recipe, since it already has a dose of cinnamon in it. I do doctor that a little by adding vanilla, and usually a touch more almond milk–I think my flour is a little thirstier, and it makes the pancakes too thick. Since the cinnamon swirl mix makes more than you need for this pancake recipe, you can double your pancakes, or half the swirl.

Then, I altered the cinnamon swirl recipe, so I didn’t have to pipe it at all. I hate piping!

Cinnamon Swirl (easily makes enough for 12 pancakes):

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine or shortening (make sure it has some buttery flavor)

1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1/4 cup almond milk (or whatever unmilk you like)

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp flour

Using a pyrex measuring cup, I melted the margarine in the microwave (it took about 20 seconds). Then I stirred in the sugar, cinnamon, and flour to make a thick paste. Add the almond milk in slowly, as you may not need all of it to make a pourable syrup. When you have it at a workable consistency, you’re done!

Now you get to make pancakes! Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into a pan warmed over medium-low heat. Get your cinnamon mixture and decorate your flapjack. I totally abandoned the swirl idea, since when you flip the pancake over, the pattern is basically lost anyway. So I went with drips and drops, though you could make hearts, happy faces, whatever. Just get about a tablespoon of it on every pancake.

Flip the pancakes when they are dry on the edges and bubbly in the center. Watch out! Your swirl mixture is basically hot caramel at this point, and tends to spread. I noticed that it would ball back up nicely and re-stick itself back on the pancake if you had any run-off. Nice!

This is a recipe I would absolutely make again, but it is a little time consuming. In the future, I think I would also make some vegan bacon bits and mix them with a little earth balance and maple syrup to make a delicious spread to go on top. Doesn’t that sound awesome?